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That's the biggest thing for me, I find religion and spirituality to be two completely diffrent things often enough. There are few I've encountered who are actually spiritual about their religion. The majority of people I encounter are preachers, they look down on others, badger them, and give their religion a bad reputation. The woman who frightened me so much when I was younger completely tainted religions for me. I don't honestly believe I can ever go to church, call myself a Christian or a Catholic or a Baptist or any of them. However that doesn't mean I don't pray, when I'm frightened, when I'm grateful, when I feel blessed. I choose the title 'Agnostic' only because it's the closest proximity to a category for me to fall under when others question. I believe in a higher power, I believe in my own ignorance and that there's no way for me to know who or what that higher power is, I call it God because I have no other word for it, I take comfort in it, though I fear it may not exist because in my mind there is always that possibility as I have no physical evidence. I take great comfort in science as it provides me with good solid facts and explains things that were once mysteries without a shadow of a doubt. I marvel at the body, be it of mammal, amphibian or reptile (humans being mammals) and I marvel at it's existance and creation and how it works. I often think "something created all this, something thought this up and made it all work toether to create life" and I feel very small, but very much at peace. In short, I don't think I fit anyone's description of any of the names for any of the religions or non-religions. I just go day by day doing my best to be a good person, I try to live fully and enjoy and appreciate the life I've been blessed with and treat my body well and keep it in good condition to show I'm greatful to have it. I'm saddened when someone says this means I will go to their Hell, because I havn't been baptized and because I don't go to their churches and have them tell me I'm a sinner and I need to worship. Can't I just love existance and marvel at it and be greatful for it? Can't I just do the best I can with it and thuroughly appreciate it? That's where the problem I have is, that's where I get upset, I've been hurt in the past by preachers, I feel attacked by them, I don't like them. I apologize for any generalizations I've expressed before in insulting religions and I will try to remember more often that not all of the people who are a part of the religions are preachers, some of them really do feel spiritual, as I do.

Personally I think we all know more Christians then we think we do (though I can only speak for the US). It's just that religion may never come up in conversation and some people just don't bring it up unless asked. I know I don't just randomly say "I'm Catholic" in the middle of a conversation.

Seriously...I'm always surprised at how many of my band friends I see in Church. We're all college kids. We're all stubborn about our own opinions. Religion is just something we never talked about. Then we see each other at a mass and suddenly it's "Hey! I didn't know you were Catholic." As it is, there are probably still a number of kids who have absolutely no idea as to what I am.

My sister experienced something similar when she had the opportunity to attend an all female summer program about government. For the first few days, she was exposed to some serious athiests and people who openly proclaimed to have very little respect for Christianity...it was probably the first time in her life where she experienced such a strong hostility. As a result she hid her own religious identity out of fear that it could affect the way people see her before they got to know her. Aggressively converting people is not exactly something she does either.

She met with some of her hall mates for a small get together in one of the rooms and they all sat in a circle asking questions and getting to know each other. And the topic did come up. So my sister's turn to "confess" came early and she admitted to being a Catholic.

And to her surprise a number of girls, including her own roommate, gasped and said they were too. But like her, they all felt like they had to hide it...or at least that's what her roomate confessed to feeling anyway. They felt they had to hide it from each other. It was a HUGE relief on her part when everyone finally opened up about it. It made her feel less lonely and eased what once felt like a hostile atmosphere.

Seriously...I think you might be surprised at how many you know and didn't realize it because you never asked. Understandibly so...your faith can be a very personal thing.

Unless of course New Jersey is the odd state out. wink

i'm a conservative christian. what's that you may ask? it's okay not everybody knows what that is anymore.
1. i don't belief in infant baptism
2. i'm pro-choice
3. i go to church because (and i stress this) because my mom always told me that if i ever wanted to change my religions, just let them now so they know where to take me.
4. i'm in a none denominational church (which means we follow the bible and nothing else)
5. i am not going to tell you that "you are going to go to hell" because you don't go to the same church as me. i have a two close friends one's baptist, the other is aetheistic.
6. Christians have gotten a bad wrap from the denominations. for example the CATHOLIC crusades. they had apsolutly nothing to do with anyone but the Catholic church. The jehova witnesses are the one's everyone cracks jokes about (but i am not one of them)
7. i believe in the creation and will be happy to debate anyone on the Creation vs Evolution topic
i have a theory (mind you don't all jump down my throught at once okay) that people who are against organized religion have been forced to go as children. let's face as you grow up you learn that you do have a will and you can choose where you want to go. maybe you went to the wrong kind of church, and hated it cause your parents are forcing you to go, so when ya get older and moved out ya want nothing to do with that church. other's i think are just still looking to have a religion fit them. i hate to break it to ya'll but religion is not ment to fit you, you are ment to fit it. like the laws of the land that protect you that is how religion is supposed to function. to try and get you to become greater than you are. to give peace of mind, and companionship. religion is not all about the rules. it's about gathering with other people who have the same thoughts as you do and working for a common goal.
p.s. if you want to quote all of this to comment on just say Assura's post1 cause i'm afraid i can be a bit longtyped and we wouldn't want to slow the format down.

Well Im a shinto-budhist but I believe everyone has a right to their own beliefs and that god or the spirits or whatever loves everyone regardless of how they were taught to pray to him.her,them. most religions at their root is about how to live a peaceful life in harmony with nature and your neighbours, its just when they get "organized" and people make rules that things get messed up. if people just tried to life a good life and quit worrying about what this or that "church" says we'd all be better people.

and Id like to say to Assura that I dont believe creationism and evolution are or need to be exclusive, the fact that many religions say they are is just proof to me anyways that people are interperting the spirits to fit their own ideas, what could be more wonderful and full of divine power than evolution, its all part of the plan that things change and grow, so I say look at it and see his touch in everything around you

actually the catholic church is not a christian church it is a derevitive of the original church which came into being at around 36 A.D. i am in no way connected to the catholic, prespretarion, baptisit or any other denomination. i believe in the original, bible-based church and not in the creeds of others. this is stricktly the christian religion i'm talking about. not anything it.

I grew up in a Mormon household... I NEVER liked going to church... so I started to not go and then knid of stop believeing in The Mormon ways... I am Wicca and I have been for 2 years now... I entered in and retoke a new name... I was reborn as a new person... but I still go by the name Shirley, for I love the name shirley and I want to keep it, plus the school will only reconize that as my name.

Also I am all for the Own Spirtuliaty(sp) I just do it a little bit of form with it... I do it at home, but stick with my guildlines of me part of Wicca...

i pretty much completely agree. i'm am an advocate of religion, because i think the most important thing in life is having something to believe in. i've actually become less involved in my religion since my son was born, because now he is my reason for living.

IMHO, everyone has a sort of religion. it's what gets us through our days, whether it's for a god, goddess, family, a friend... religion to me is that one thing we live for, the one reason we keep going no matter what happens.

it also gives a reason to be GOOD, do good things. if you don't believe you're responsible for your actions, if you don't think there's a point to anyhting, i don't see much motivation to be good or help anyone you know?